Marisa Tomei puts own stamp on Aunt May in 'Spider-Man'

‘‘Pardon my glasses,’’ Marisa Tomei said as she sat down for a recent interview in an oversize pair of tinted prescription spectacles. ‘‘That’s the touch of Aunt May.’’

Tomei becomes the latest actress to assume the mantle of Aunt May, the kindly guardian of Peter Parker, a nebbishy science student who moonlights as the superhero Spider-Man.

In her earliest comic-book appearances, the Aunt May character is presented as a delicate older woman; in previous iterations of the ‘‘Spider-Man’’ movie series, she has been played by Rosemary Harris and Sally Field.

‘‘Spider-Man: Homecoming,’’ which opened July 7, last Friday, reboots the franchise and restores Parker to an adolescent high-schooler (played by Tom Holland).

A new Aunt May was called for, too.

Enter Tomei, 52, the Academy Award-winning star of ‘‘My Cousin Vinny,’’ who hopes to put her stamp on the role while respecting the character’s roots. Her Aunt May can be exuberant and quirky, and still sometimes wear her hair in a bun.

Tomei also spoke about sustaining a 30-year acting career, her stint on ‘‘Empire’’ and her Oscars experience.

Q: How did you feel when you learned who Aunt May was and how she was depicted in the comics?

A: I was horrified. Talk about crushed (laughing). I went through the whole negotiation without knowing. They just kept saying ‘‘an iconic character, an iconic character.’’

It sounds kind of ridiculous, but it all happened very quickly. It was right before ‘‘Captain America: Civil War’’ was shooting. Everything happened within maybe 10 days. But I was more focused on my deal, honestly. And then, the illustration was revealed to me.

Q: But you didn’t feel they were asking you to play a dowdy widow?

A: You know what? There’s nothing wrong with that depiction of the character. I don’t want to be coming from an ageist point of view about that, at all. It was my own personal cross to bear at that moment. But in the scope of things, why not? I thought, maybe I should lean into that and go full-on silver hair. Instead, we gave her long hair.

Q: How do you maintain longevity over an acting career? Once actors become known, they often get pigeonholed.

A: They get depressed. Morose. Bitter (laughing). No, we’re staying away from that. I did two plays this past year: "The Rose Tattoo’’ at the Williamstown Theater Festival and ‘‘How to Transcend a Happy Marriage’’ for Lincoln Center Theater, and ‘‘Spider-Man.’’ All of them were very rich experiences and very different.

Of course, I’m always fighting whatever stereotypes one gets into and trying to change it up. Not because of some cerebral approach to it, but more from a soulful approach. As you can see in this, my big stretch is being from Brooklyn but playing from Queens.

Q: You also got to play the villainous executive Mimi Whiteman on ‘‘Empire.’’ Was that a fun departure for you?

A: It was also challenging to me, to be that authoritative and (expletive), really. The suits helped. I’ve played a handful of sunny people, and I’d like to do something where I get to be either obnoxious or dark and angry. It’s hard for me to feel that way. That’s a whole other psychological dive, I suppose.

Q: What is it like to win an Academy Award so early in your film career?

A: I don’t know what other people were expecting of me, really. I certainly was just at the beginning, so I didn’t have any of those strange expectations on myself.

Q: Are you still able to watch movies in a theater, with a civilian audience?

A: That’s the most fun way, isn’t it? Especially with big movies like this. I can still remember seeing ‘‘The Fly’’ at midnight, here in Times Square, with a packed audience. The people were just high-fiving with strangers in the middle of the movie. It doesn’t get better than that.